Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Transitioning into another year is exciting. It's a time when I look back on the games I played, and those still ahead. The year 1991 saw the largest number of RPGs on console, and that number isn't matched again until 1998. While the numbers slowly decline, the quality is on the rise as we have yet to enter what was considered the golden age.

I was disappointed in a lot of the games I'd never played: Sword of Vermilion, Faria, Sword of Hope, Faery Tale Adventure, and Crystal Warriors. I enjoyed the exploration RPGs Starflight and Uncharted Waters more than I anticipated. Phantasy Star III, while not as bad as the second, continued to drag the series down. Final Fantasy II (IV), didn't quite shine as brightly as I remembered. Other childhood favorites like Magician and Lagoon were still just as good. However, my favorite games were those I'd never played before: Rings of Power had an amazing world, Warsong was a fun strategy title, Final Fantasy Legend II improved on the first title, but Dragon Warrior III takes the highest esteem and is my pick for game of the year. The takeaway here being while the unknown has its downside, there are many titles that make it worth the time.

Welcome to 1992, and we already get to see how Dragon Warrior continues in the fourth installment

1992, the US
saw the release of the TurboDuo and SegaCD (although no RPG releases until 1993). Although the TurboGrafx-CD had been released in the US for a couple of years, there seems to be a flood of RPGs at the same time the TurboDuo came out. Ys: Book 1 & 2, which I played at the release date of Ys 1, was the only CD based RPG until Cosmic Fantasy 2. It's possible Dragon Slayer and Exile came out earlier in the year, but without accurate release dates it's hard to say. Given the gap, the release of the TurboDuo may have been the driving force behind releasing these CD based RPGs.

Arcana - Here began my fascination with card based games, or at least the first time I acknowledged it. During (or near) this same year I found out about Magic: The Gathering, and the lesser known Fantasy Adventures. Every time a game had a card game I'd get sucked into it far more than the rest of the story. So much so that I'd often forgot what I was doing, and play the card game instead. Arcana takes an elemental based approach to rock-paper-scissor mechanics, and presents nearly everything on playing cards. This one is a childhood favorite, which I haven't played for at least 20 years.

Cosmic Fantasy 2 - I debated putting this in the with the sequels, but technically this is the first (and last) release in the US for this series, despite its name. I can only imagine Working Designs intended to bring the rest over, but despite critical acclaim, that never happened. I know very little about the game, so I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Defenders of Oasis -The last Game Gear game I'll be playing, and I know very little about it. It's interesting that this and Exile came out in the same year as they share a similar setting. I like to keep the few unknown games in the dark until I get to play them for the first time.

Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun - One of the first D&D licensed games made exclusively for home console. Unlike other D&D titles, this isn't based on an existing PC game, and it remained on the Genesis only released in the US and Europe. Yet another game I have no experience with, but have heard only good things about.

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest - Here we have another childhood favorite. Seems it's either one way or another this year. I recall being amazed at the ability to jump in a Final Fantasy game. Now while this is technically in the Final Fantasy world, I don't consider it a sequel. It was originally created for the US market to encourage more people to get into RPGs. Instead, it alienated many fans of the main series with simpler mechanics.

Knight Quest - A Game Boy game I've never heard of before, and it's an RPG. I don't remember ever seeing anyone play through this, so I hope that's not an indicator for quality. I suppose at best I could hope for a mediocre experience, one possibly peppered with a terrible mechanic or steep difficulty curve. In any case, I'm warily looking forward to this one.

Legend of Ghost Lion - A strange NES game that takes a different approach to character development. Instead of experience based levels, or direct combat, the main character collects specific items to increase strength, and summons spirits to aid her in battle. Searching for her missing parents she follows the legend of a white lion.

Order of the Griffon - The other one of the first D&D licensed games exclusive to home console. We'll see a few of these over the years, but from what I can tell, only this and Warriors of the Eternal Sun stand out. This title has more in common with the gold box games, and I'm looking forward experiencing it firsthand. The cover taken straight from the Spellfire novel has me curious, even though I suspect it's completely unrelated.

Soul Blazer - A classic, and childhood favorite. I can't wait to play through this one again. Alas, it comes at the end of the year. At the same time, it's so well known that I don't think I really have anything more to add. Borrowing a bit of the world building idea from ActRaiser, Soul Blazer produces a much more cohesive world with a large cast of characters with whom to interact. Character building is mostly fixed, but the depth of the world and story pulls it above the mark.

Traysia - Having grown up on Nintendo consoles, I was mostly in the dark on Genesis games, especially the more obscure ones such as Traysia. I've heard it's rather run-of-the-mill, but we'll see how it stands with its peers. It can't be worse than Sword of Vermilion, right?

Dragon Warrior IV - By far my most anticipated game this year, I'm hoping it doesn't fail to improve on the greatness of the previous installment. Done with the Erdrick trilogy, we'll be entering a completely new story, and I've heard this is the best of the Dragon Warrior games on NES. I'm not sure why we never even rented this game. Possibly we'd already moved on to the SNES, and never looked back. Often when moving on from one system to the next we'd miss the later titles, and since we didn't buy the third, I suspect we gave up on the series for other games (i.e. Final Fantasy).

Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes - A port from the Japanese exclusive PC-98, the Dragon Slayer series enjoyed a great success. Although we did see a few of these titles already, the Legend of Heroes is really its own sub-series. Legacy of the Wizard and Faxanadu don't compare with this title. I somehow overlooked this title when I first made the list, but luckily a stream viewer alerted me to the missing title (thanks Morricane). It's obviously an RPG, so it's now added after Cosmic Fantasy as it lacks a definitive release month.

Exile - Originally known as XZR, this is a port of the second title in the series. It picks up after the events of the first XZR, so I'm curious about how the localization team accounted for the lack of that game in the US market. This was released on Genesis and TG-CD, but due to some censorship, and picking up the game with the system, I'll be playing on the TurboGrafx-CD version.

Might & Magic: Book 1 - There's probably an interesting bit of history to explain why the first game was ported a year later than the second one, but I can't find anything on the topic. Sammy, not EA, was the publisher on the NES. I expect a brutally hard game where I'll struggle for hours just trying to get a foothold in the game. Anything less will be disappointing to the Might & Magic name.

Pool of Radiance - My favorite gold box title, and the only one ported to the NES; I'm hoping it does well with the game. I have never touched the console version, so it'll be a new experience. Much of the same challenge probably exists, although it's strange to note the party only has five characters. Let's see how much of it I can remember.

Wizardry II: Knight of Diamonds - There's a part of me dreading this game. The first wouldn't have been so bad except that I basically had to play through it twice. Losing my party at the final boss meant playing through the game twice. I'm hoping it's smoother; at least I don't have to worry about playing through all of Wizardry just to get characters to import into this game.

Ys III: Wanderers from Ys - Although a sequel of Ys II, this version is another port from the PC-98. One of the few games released on multiple consoles, I had to make another decision on which version to play. Having owned the SNES version since childhood, I decided to forgo buying another copy. From what I can tell, the Genesis version has much more detailed graphics, and the TG version has CD quality sound. Overall, the game differences are very minor.

Expected Cuts

Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe - A strange side story in the Golden Axe series, the player controls Ax Battler as he attempts to retrieve the Golden Axe from evil. A mix of top-down over worlds and towns are paired with a side view for random combat and cave exploration. There's little character development (new skills are gained, but no stats change), and combat is simplistic.

Cowboy Kid - An RPG? No, definitely not. Although not listed as an RPG on MobyGames at this time, it was at one point, so it could be listed as one somewhere else. There's no character development, some NPCs, but not a lot of story or world exploration.

Gemfire - A strategy game limited to a single map. Released on Genesis, NES, and SNES, it was one of the first to offer generals that had specialized units. With more in common with Romance of the Three Kingdoms than Warsong, it's hard to say why someone would consider this an RPG rather than a simulation-strategy game.

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - This was a great game, and I enjoyed discovering every bit of it as a kid. However, I never felt it had very much in common with games I considered RPGs. Maybe that had to do with my experience in Bard's Tale and Wizardry before this time. I enjoy these games a lot, but to compare them to Final Fantasy, Arcana, or even Ys seems a bit off.

Ninja Taro - I'm not sure how this was ever considered an RPG, but someone made a terrible mistake. In fact, I think the mistake was even making this game. The game seems to use the same engine as Rolan's Curse, but somehow manages to have even less features.

Rolan's Curse II - The second in the series doesn't do anything to add to the score for the RPG scale. There are a couple more sub-weapons, but the world is built in the same way.

Spiritual Warfare - An action adventure similar to Zelda once again gets confused as an RPG. This wasn't even technically a licensed title, but I thought I'd cover it. There's no character advancement, and the story is minimal.

Tecmo Cup: Soccer Game - Probably the closest for consideration, I don't think this quite meets all the criteria. This is a turn-based soccer game where the characters gain strength after a game. Using special moves to get past the other team and score goals is the only strategy I see. I believe the game lacks an economy, NPCs, or a world to explore.

Ultima: Runes of Virtue - This appears to be yet another Zelda-like action-adventure. Like others character advancement is minimal, and is reliant more on player reflexes to settle combat. The departure from the standard Ultima model seems strange, and I'm curious to know more about it, but not enough to give it full coverage.

And with that, we're off to another exciting year of RPGs. There's a good mix of games I've played through before, and new ones that I'm excited to try for the first time. I'm not dreading any of the games, and am eager to get back to playing RPGs after this extended break. Look forward to a post on Ys III near the beginning of 2016. Happy holidays all, and have a good New Year.

Finding an accurate release date for this title was difficult when I planned out the year. Most had the it as late 1991, and others as late as Dec. 1992. I didn't notice until too late that the title screen listed 1992 or I would have moved it on to the following year. In any case, it's a short, easy, and simple enough game to tackle now. Once again my only option was use emulation in order to get screen shots, but this game is available on the 3DS Virtual Console if you're interested in checking it out or playing on the go without using 6-AA batteries. This time I used the emulator's built-in overlay to obscure the screen to the correct display resolution.

Peace ending is how most RPGs start

Centuries of peace were disrupted when the Jyn empire attacked the kingdom of Ariel in order to capture the four elemental crystals. At the end of the invasion though, they noted only three, and a missing princess Iris. Emperor Grym's plan to dominate Tyramus with the crystals was thwarted. He sent his men in search of the princess, and gain the last crystal.

*Plop*

The princess Iris was joined by three fighters, a healer, and a mage. Each stage has static monsters as well as enemy forces that encroach on the party's starting location. Every unit has an elemental affinity, and the game uses a rock-paper-scissors mechanic for enhanced damage and defense. Fire > Wind > Water > Fire, and Earth sits as a neutral element. The princess, healer, and mage are earth while the fighters are one of each type. Paying attention to the weaknesses of the enemy was key to overcoming them easily. The mages are the most dangerous since they don't have an inherent weakness, and can potentially cast spells matching the weakness of any character. However, not every enemy mage had every elemental spell. To offset this, each fighter can capture monsters they defeat, and summon them to battle in the fighter's place.

Unfortunately the enemy army is hidden until attacked or scanned, so picking out initial placement is random

Each map had the enemies starting at one castle, and Iris at another. If the castle became occupied by opposing forces, then the opposing forces won. Most of the time, it was better to wipe out the enemies to gain more experience. Control alternates between player and enemy, and all units can either move plus take an action, attack, or cast a spell. Terrain didn't seem to contribute to combat. There was plenty of healing and MP to go around; however, it's not a complete a cake-walk. Any unit lost during battle were permanently removed from the army. Between each map the party rested at a town where hints, equipment, spells, and units were bought.

Spoilers: this guy died to test out what happens to units when they collapse in battle

There's also a fortune teller that reveals the composition of the enemy army (if they favor one element over another). Deciding which enemies to deploy didn't come into play until the army had more than nine units. Most of the free hints from NPCs were for flavor. The game became even easier once I raised my healer to max level. It caused her stats to become completely overpowered compared to other units. This took some effort to accomplish as experience is only gained when a unit delivers the killing blow.

The ultimate fighter is my healer

At certain points in the game, Iris gained additional crystals, but they were merely set pieces with no added benefit to battle. The towns cycled through various equipment with little rhyme or reason as to what was available. Spells were the same way. Although the later stages tended to have better spells and equipment, I often received offers late in the game for starting spells and equipment. The available recruits shuffled each town as well.

I missed getting a screen shot of the ending boss again; I'm really bad at taking live shots

Eventually we came to a point where Iris took out Grym, and then a final map where we took on a great evil (a jinn I think) and triumphed. I'm sure you can tell how vested I was in the story. There were a couple of named generals, but overall every mapped blended into each other, every town looked the same, and I felt like I was taking on the same 5 enemies with little change to my tactics. The only strategic part of this game was juggling around my units to ensure everyone was at an equal level. After 16 stages, the game ended.

Legen... wait for it...

My experience with this game was just bland. If I didn't end up leveling my healer, then it could have taken longer, but I don't believe it would have been any more difficult. Often she was eating up experience that could have been useful for other units. It's easy enough that I don't think anyone would have trouble with it, but there's no intrigue to grab a player's attention.

Elapsed Time: 6h44m (Final Time: 6h44m)

Thanks for the short game

Combatant - Combat is simple, and easy. The AI rarely makes an effort to avoid obvious traps, and will walk right down choke points. Mages offer easy ways to reduce enemy units, but enemy mages can counter any attack. This won't be the last time we see rock-paper-scissor style combat. It seems to be something of a phenomenon in this genre. Stats make a huge difference, but it can be such a pain to get the right units leveled. Under-leveled units have little chance to make up the gap if they fall too far behind. Gold is gained from each defeated unit in addition to 4 experience points.Rating: 5

A couple healers duke it out

Admirer - Spells are customized with four slots per character, and separated by healer and mage spells. Mages have scan, and elemental spells. Healers have healing, and status effects that only work when they're participating in combat. Iris has a few specifically for her, but there's always an obvious best choice when deciding how to equip a character. Appearance doesn't change, and there are no advancement options. Controls are decent enough, and I don't remember having any problems.Rating: 4

Manabu who?

Puzzler - I suppose as long as the game has a main quest this category will never be less than 1. Unfortunately, that's all this game gets. No side quests, no puzzles, and nothing else aside from combat and preparing for combat.Rating: 1

I don't even remember seeing the unit on the right

Instigator - The story hardly pushes the game forward. I couldn't even tell if it was the same town I returned to, or 15 different towns. The helpful fortuneteller, mostly useless, is the only NPC worth any time. Everyone else drones on about how hard life is since Grym attacked, but there's really no evidence to support such claims. There aren't any decisions, and I can't say I was immersed in the game at any point.Rating: 2

Fire vs. water, easy to tell who comes out on top

Collector - There's equipment, but only two levels for each type of unit. No other items exist in the game. Gold is in short supply, and with recruiting, buying random spells, and random equipment, it's hard to say when a good purchase will pay off. Spells and equipment are replaced with newer ones.Rating: 1

I have no memory of the music, sorry Macky

Explorer - There's no world: it's set map, followed by town, followed by set map, followed by town, followed by (repeat until game ends). There's nothing hidden in the towns or maps, and no reason to explore. The graphics were well done, and while I don't recall the music, I don't think it annoyed me at all. Exploration is completely closed to either the current map or the current town.Rating: 2

Oh, there's the final boss, which took a whole round of characters to bring down

Final Rating: 15 [25%]

While not the best game, it's definitely not the worst. I can't say I enjoyed the experience though, and I'm unlikely to ever revisit the game. I wouldn't recommend it. The best thing I can say about it is that it wasn't terrible. It's probably the most basic strategy RPG we'll see, or at least I could hope so.

Thank you Captain Elf

Moving on, we have the gaming year 1992 to cover before heading into our first game of that year: Ys III: Wanderers of Ys. I've owned the game on SNES since it was released, and that's the version I'll cover. It was released on Genesis and TG-CD at about the same time. While it might be interesting to look at the others, I'm going to stick to my one port policy. I might cover a few differences in the starting areas to give some comparison, but don't plan to play through each version.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Battlemaster - Rating(5 RPP)
1) 1 - Character Advancement: practice/experience based advancement, stat or level increases, multiple classes or characters, customize characters
2) 1 - Combat: character stats used for combat, additional combat options, turn based
3) 2 - Items and Equipment: store to buy and sell, equipment decisions, item decisions
4) 1 - Story: main story at the forefront; world full of hints and lore; descriptions for objects, people, and places
5) 0 - Exploration: open world from the beginning, visited locations remain open
6) 0 - Quests and Puzzles: side quests not related to the main quest, puzzles and riddles to solve

We have here another oddity of time. Most game lists categorize this as either an action adventure, or strategy game, while the box says it has role-playing action. It has a mix of character and troop management, exploration, and inventory that give it a feel similar to RPGs. However, it lacks character advancement, stats, and customization. There are multiple races and classes, each with their own starting missions, and possibly story. You control a main general that has a squad of troops. Once again I didn't play this for very long, but as far as I could tell equipment is the only thing that plays a part in combat. Equipment is varied, and items seemed to range between obvious and obscure uses.

The game consists of separate mission-based areas where the goal is to destroy enough of the enemy forces to conquer the territory. There's an option to purchase equipment from the spoils gained on previous missions, but no option to sell anything. There is a story, although I didn't get very deep into it. I didn't find any NPCs, and there weren't any side quests within the first two missions I played through. In the end, it doesn't play well and there are tons of instant death traps that take memorization to pass.

Monday, November 16, 2015

World Court Tennis- Rating(5 RPP)
1) 0 - Character Advancement: practice/experience based advancement, stat or level increases, multiple classes or characters, customize characters
2) 0 - Combat: character stats used for combat, additional combat options, turn based
3) 0 - Items and Equipment: store to buy and sell, equipment decisions, item decisions
4) 3 - Story: main story at the forefront; world full of hints and lore; descriptions for objects, people, and places
5) 2 - Exploration: open world from the beginning, visited locations remain open
6) 0 - Quests and Puzzles: side quests not related to the main quest, puzzles and riddles to solve

World Court Tennis seems to have been the prototype for Final Lap Twin. It took a completely different genre, and wrapped it up in a story and open world to call it an RPG. "Combat" takes place on the tennis court with random encounters occurring in the open world. A single round of tennis against these random opponents determines if it's a win or loss, but sets and matches might come into play by the time the player reaches the evil tennis king. Oh yes, there's a story. The no-name kingdom had enjoyed many years of free tennis, but now the evil king has beaten all the tennis champs, which entitled him to the entire kingdom. Now no one is free to play whenever they want, and it's up to me to stop the evil king. The previous king provided me some basic equipment, and starting money (a pitiful sum). With that story I'm not sure how I'm able to face off in tennis matches against random people.

The tennis game is well done, although the controls are restricted to only two buttons. Considering it as the combat for the game there's not much strategy, and stats all lie with the equipment; however, equipment is graded, so there aren't any decisions to make. Winning a round rewards the player with gold, which is spent in the store to purchase new rackets, shirts, or shoes. These may improves the character's abilities in the game, but I couldn't even afford the first upgrade. The only character choice beyond naming is whether to play as a male or female. There aren't any side quests or puzzles to solve.

The world seemed to be open, although I didn't make it very far in the game. I missed this game on a first pass through, but chat mentioned it in passing. I can see why it doesn't make many lists. There's no game over screen in quest mode. In fact, when you lose the good king gives you a small amount of money, so even if you're bad you can still make progress. It probably deserves less on the story rating, but I'm feeling generous as I didn't play very far to give it a fair shake. It's definitely not an RPG though.

These were really the formative years for my perception on console RPGs. Final Fantasy II was great, and I even had fun playing Drakkhen. Lagoon was a short game we rented that I ended buying with my own money because I enjoyed it so much. I don't know if it was the music, the graphics, or the jumping, but something about it resonated with me. The music has a synth motif reminiscent of tunes one might attribute to the Genesis. It's only years later that I'd come to find that this, and Drakkhen, were considered bad games by the majority of opinions on the Internet.

They're probably bathing in it

The story begins with Nasir's mentor, Mathias, instructing him on his destiny. Muddy water drives the plot, and of course there's those demons everywhere. Nasir arrives in Atland to investigate a way to purify the water, and rid the land of demons. There's a short intro sequence that showed a princess, and a man known as Thor that had one red eye and one blue. While traveling in this monster infested land, Nasir failed to realize he should bring a weapon, or armor. So, we arrive in Atland with nothing but the clothes on our back.

*Plop*

The townspeople pointed me towards the mayor, who helpfully funded an expedition into a nearby cave after a man was found badly wounded outside told a tale of a man named Giles trapped within. With some gold in my pocket I purchased a short sword, bandit armor, and an iron shield. The cave was a twisty maze of passages that all looked alike. Combat is a little difficult to get a handle on; the sword has such a tiny range that I found myself running into the enemy more often than actually connecting with it. Unfortunately, that caused damage to Nasir. With a shield I sometimes naturally deflected those hits, but Nasir was wide open while swinging his sword.

Damage causes knock-back, which makes it hard to connect multiple times

Experience and gold increased after defeating an enemy, and there's no real fanfare for leveling up either. HP and MP naturally regenerate while standing still, so the game isn't too difficult with some caution. I found Giles on the mountain top, but he was badly hurt and asked for a healing pot. The first time I tried to give it to him I accidentally pressed the button to use it on myself. I can just imagine the scene, Nasir slowly drinks the potion down to the last drop right in front of him. I purchased another from the item shop, and retrieved him. He followed me back to town at a snail's pace. Once I returned him, Giles pointed me to the faith healer. She told me that a demon named Samson lay behind a locked door in the cave, and gave me the key.

This is how close I have to be to hit him

I gained the fire crystal after defeating him. Magic is equipped by selecting a crystal and staff. The combination allows the use of one spell at a time. An old man in Voloh directed me to find three tablets that could unseal Philips Castle. The mayor provided me the earth staff (combined with the fire crystal gave me the fireball spell) as well as an item to free his people from the castle. The store didn't have much for sale, but there was an overpriced Shiny
Ball (10,000 gold), which was said to increase regeneration. There's no way I was
going to afford that; I don't think I had that much even by the end of the game. Oh, and some princess named Felicia disappeared. A man named Zerah appeared to be the main antagonist, and was seen right before her disappearance. Thor was in town, and he gave me his third of the tablet as well as helped me find the tablet hidden in the plains. The last was just outside Philips Castle.

Let's be honest, who else has forgotten there was a jump button by this point and walked off the bridge?

With all three tablets found, the old man in Voloh translated the spell (Hieke Larmerila Kemuhi--I wonder if this is just gibberish, or is meaningful to someone) to unlock Philips Castle. Thor had his own business to attend to and left. Inside the castle I found some gold armor and keys to the prison. Once inside the prison, I used the mantle on the elf prisoners who rewarded me with the key to the boss room. I picked up a large shield along the way, and then found myself facing a two-headed lion with wings on the roof. This was the first real challenge, and I'm glad I remembered I to save just outside its door. Magic doesn't work on bosses, and regeneration is halted while fighting them. Items can still be used, but only one of each can be carried, so there's no chance to stock up on potions.

After defeating this boss I learned its name was Natela

Killing off Natela rewarded my with a silver sword and unlocked a door on the side of the castle, which housed a passage to the Dwarf Desert. I picked up the Sonic Armor in Denegul, the next village over, but had to put off the purchase of the Great Shield until another time. One of the old men in town provided an ancient book about a moon blade, made of moon stone, and the sky staff. I ran into Thor who lost his pendant back in Voloh, and he asked me to retrieve it. There's no fast travel, so I had to trek back and forth. One of the elves had the pendant. Thor exchanged the pendant for a powerful mirror, which destroyed a couple large rocks outside the Dwarf Cave. Inside was a wind crystal, magic sword, and a protective ring. Rings constantly drain MP, so they're great for boss battles, but not much else.

Oh, yeah, and I picked up some stone too, which I promptly forgot about

Back in Denegul, Mathias appeared to tell me that the princess Felicia was taken by Ella, who works for Zerah. She escaped through the Dwarf Cave. I showed the moon stone to one of the dwarves as requested, and was rewarded with the freezing pot. That allowed me to freeze a lava flow in the Dwarf Cave, which was the hardest area in the game. Having to go through it three times didn't make it any easier. On the other side was Felicia, being dragged off by Ella. She asked me to save her before they could use her power to move Lagoon Castle, the source of all water. I chased after Ella, but ran into her pet instead. This rock monster was only vulnerable while its eye-stalks poked out.

I never really understood pet rocks, but this one was named Eardon

The next town was suffering from a disease assumed to have come from the muddy water. The priest in Poper asked me to retrieve some mint from Siegfried Castle. He'd go himself, but you know, demons. The enemies there weren't much trouble, and I came away with a maxim shield, thunder armor, and the mint. I was then directed to some spirits underneath the chapel. The thanked me, but also issued a warning of the coming battle between light and dark. I received the star staff, and a key to Duma's room, the next boss guarding the path to Lagoon Castle. On my way there I collected the force sword, and two more rings. Duma could crush with his hands, and his face was only vulnerable during a short time when his mask was open.

I took a lot of damage from being crushed

The power ring was my ring of choice. I gained the water crystal and key of Siegfried for my trouble. At the back entrance of the castle I ran into Thor, apparently working for the bad guys. I watched helplessly as Lagoon Castle rose to the sky on a pillar of water. At least they left a teleportation pad to Lilaty, home of little people. They spoke of an ice cave that required a fur mantle, which was held by a big liar. Someone gave me a fire of truth to smoke him out. Without the fur mantle equipped, the ice cave causes constant damage. Before I headed in, I also gained an angel's bell to awaken some nymphs. Hugging the walls led me to the boss room where I faced a huge snowball, named Thimale. Definitely one of the more difficult battles, but mostly due to not knowing its weak spot. I first had to destroy some ice pillars, and then place myself in such a way as to attack the ball without getting hit.

Then they blew me away to Phantom Hill

Nymphs were waiting on the other side. They gave me the moon staff before sending me off to Phantom Hill in pursuit of Zerah. This hill was sparsely decorated. The only notable feature was a small hole where Ella was hiding out. Ella was another tough battle. She would teleport randomly, and spray out fireballs. The more damage she took, the faster she went. Defeating her made stairs appear. At the summit I watched as Zerah and Mathias faced off in a heated battle. Zerah escaped, but Mathias was mortally wounded. He revealed that Thor and Nasir were sons of the gods, one light and one dark. What's with these games where a big reveal is that the bad guy is related to the good guy? With the last of his strength, he passed on the thunder crystal, and blew me away to the clouds.

Only some clouds can support Nasir, others are death

At the end of the clouds, I leaped on to the floating island supporting Lagoon Castle. At the threshold, I read a message that the moon stone could be used in the moonlight to create the moon blade. By this point though, I had completely forgotten I already had the moon stone. So, I scoured Lagoon Castle multiple times looking for it. I found the moonlight early on, rescued the king and queen, and rescued the princess from a magic mirror. I found a healing ring, the moon armor, and defeated Battler (a magician with two powerful minions). Battler teleported around while his minions stalked the room in a set pattern.

Somehow I ended up getting a double KO on him one time, note the full health bar that is filled after defeating a boss

Beyond Battler was an island where the evil spirit was revived. Inside the cave I found the time ring, a mostly useless item. I was still searching desperately for the moon stone, so after exhausting all paths in that cave I returned to Lagoon Castle. I found the moon shield, and then finally, I thought I could defeat the final boss without the sword. I gave it a valiant effort. The final boss consisted of multiple battles. First a large head inside a bubble, then a gargoyle with a whip, then Zerah, then Thor (two forms), and finally a red gargoyle. However, the game let me fight through all of these monsters without trouble up until the red gargoyle, which only took damage from the moon sword.

This is Thor's final form; why can't I turn into a bird?

Thor and Nasir shared a touching reunion as Zerah's control was broken. Thor's soul entered his pendant ("by the power of the secret place") as his body died. I tried to fight the red gargoyle many times before I finally resolved myself to returning to the moonlight. I then remembered, with the help of my chat, that I had already picked up the moon stone four hours earlier. With the moon blade, I easily defeated the red gargoyle, and was congratulated by the disembodied voice of Nasir and Thor's father. The game ended in a montage of cut-scenes, and the final screen seen above.

Elapsed Time: 7h36m (Final Time: 7h36m)

This screams sequel, doesn't it?

Combatant - Combat was often more aggravating than challenging. Getting into the right position to connect with the small sword was the biggest issue. Magic is available, but quickly becomes useless by either adding long wait times to allow for regeneration or are completely ineffectual. Enemies are varied, but lack animation. Rewards are well paced, and max level just out of reach without grinding. Although an action game, stats play a large role.Rating: 5

Lagoon Castle returned to it's rightful place

Admirer - There aren't any additional abilities, but magic is customized based on personal preference. In the end, everyone has the same character. Equipment alters appearance, but if you're not using the latest piece then you're going to have a bad time. Controls are a bit stiff, and there aren't any advancement options.Rating: 3

Nasir remembered his lost brother

Puzzler - No puzzles to speak of, although it's puzzling how I could forget I had a certain item. The main quest does well to remind the player of what to do next. No side quests, and no alternative paths through the challenges.Rating: 1

Thor's strange eyes stare into my soul

Instigator - The story is a bit strange. While investigating muddy water at the furthest point from the source, we get wrapped into evil plans to be evil. A princess is kidnapped, and great demons are summoned (to stand idly by in dungeons). The NPCs do well to inform the player, but the game lacks descriptions for items and any way to alter the course of events. To move the story along I was often seeking out bosses without really knowing what purpose lay beyond. All in the name of good I suppose.Rating: 3

I guess Nasir hooks up with the princess

Collector - There's lots of stuff, but most of it isn't optional. Getting the Shiny Ball is probably the true collector's task. The economy keeps a nice balance throughout, and there's a slot in inventory for every item. Only one of each can be had at any time though.Rating: 6

The final screen pans up to the moon before the book closes

Explorer - The graphics are bland, and lack detail. The music was well done however, and I was surprised to hear such sounds come from a SNES game. The world doesn't offer much reward for exploration, although the background in Phantom Hill is nice. There's definitely not much to write home about. This was a port from the X68000, and it shows how little was done to enhance the experience.Rating: 3Final Rating: 21 [35%]

The intro sequence made it seem like Nasir and Thor work together

Overall, I had fun. I can see why some might not like the experience; it's definitely a bit trying on the patience with such a small weapon. The lack of magic against bosses limits combat strategy a bit. I just have such good memories of the game as a child that are hard to separate my bias from spilling into the review. It's a fun little action RPG, and at about 6 hours I think it's doable for most fans of the genre. Definitely not a good choice for a first time, and easily skipped by most.

Next up, I have a couple games to cut, and then we'll wrap up 1991 with Crystal Warriors. That's a game I had no experience with going in, and it turned out to be one of the easiest games I've had to date with a little thanks from a strange max level "bug."